And the machine updated the system

Carlos Navarro | 14 Jul 2025 | 13.00

Jannik Sinner. Source: Getty

Streaming ATP Geneva live tennis

🎾 Mariano Navone vs Learner Tien

Sign up with Bet365 here
Make your first deposit of at least €5
Go to the “Live” section and watch every match

Watch the match on Bet365

Just a month and a half ago, I had the pleasure of writing a few lines about Carlos Alcaraz after winning his Roland Garros 2025 title. The victory had been achieved in the most ruthless manner possible. Not even the best screenwriter could have scripted an ending like the one that took place in Paris, shining the spotlight on the winner, a total dancer who lifts the audience from their seats with the same enthusiasm with which he invents new hits. On the other side, a destroyed cyborg, an -almost- perfect machine still being attacked by a deadly virus that disables a large part of its systems. While Carlitos celebrated, Jannik Sinner was already weighing in his head what the next updates in the Matrix would be. Wimbledon 2025: they have not been long in coming.

There is an unwritten law in the tennis world that is very clear. The one who evolves at a faster pace, the one who does not settle for the established and remains alert every week to incorporate new elements into their tennis, succeeds. They increase their ceiling every day, exploring their limits frequently. At the pinnacle of the circuit, every small change, every small margin, can unleash a storm of consequences. Few better examples than Nadal, Federer, or Djokovic, capable of transforming their careers and mutating their styles perpetually, turning the power of opportunity into a gift.

The fact is that Sinner, before Roland Garros, had already installed a series of packages that had made him a better player. Let's not even talk about the serve, that software was already a vital component and was working better and better. The forehand and its variations? Several versions that had come to stay. The rest, of course, was what the system lacked to be complete: a position debuted in Paris, tenths of seconds gained to neutralize the opponent's firsts and attack their seconds with mercy. The result, satisfactory... until that damn 0-40 vanished and, with it, the glory of Paris. Could this machine still be upgraded further? Hadn't we reached our limit?

AN UNRIVALED MENTAL FORCE, AN IMMOVABLE OBJECT

When Sinner succumbed to Bublik in Halle and admitted to not having mentally recovered from the blow in the Chatrier, I myself doubted him. It was something that had never happened with Sinner 2.0: I saw him as human. Admitting hesitation and uncertainty? Never before, no one like him in front of the microphones to talk about looking forward, about thinking, about victory and defeat, about updates to his tennis. The confession that, perhaps, a part of the system was under repairs? Unbelievable. The possibility crossed my mind that the toughest of defeats, in substance and form, was the only way to make a dent in a titanium armor.

For a moment, Grigor Dimitrov and an ailing elbow deepened those doubts even further. Yet, call it the luck of champions, but the mystique, the inexplicable, and what escapes general understanding, appeared. It pointed directly at the pectoral of the Bulgarian and saved Jannik from the abyss. The number ones do not hesitate when they solve, a priori, implausible situations. It momentarily reminded me of that match of Djokovic against Simon in Australia, where the Serbian made over 100 unforced errors. There was no logic to explain how to win a game with such figures... but he survived. And Jannik had survived.

Then it was time to add a new dimension to this cyborg. The dimension, of course, in which Carlos had been superior just a month ago. It is the mental one. A set down, after the setback in Paris, and Sinner unleashed his new design. Lighter, more resilient. Quick and intelligent processing capacity -of defeat-. With new features (drop shots, shots at the feet, serves out wide) and improvements in its foundation. The best of the dominating Sinner and the new from the Sinner who rises from his ashes. And it was commendable to see such a methodical guy, so obsessed (in the best sense of the word) with rectitude and the pursuit of perfection, show more emotion than ever, regain the warlike body language to shout to the world that he was still there, that five defeats against his nemesis were far from knocking him down.

Jannik Sinner is no martyr. All the legends of this sport have overcome episodes that break your heart, and sooner or later have taken revenge in their own way. However, achieving it so quickly, at such a young age and with so little time to digest the most painful blow, speaks volumes about this guy's ceiling multiplying every morning when he wakes up thinking about how to be better. Evolution, updates, and a prodigious mind: the era of Jannik Sinner, despite some inconvenient virus, remains more than present. And it is up to the others, even more so entering his favorite time of the year, to dethrone him. It won't be an easy task.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Y la máquina actualizó el sistema